Disengagement on the Front Line

I spend a lot of time thinking about how arts organisations can improve big picture planning and processes. But what if the front line visitor experience still isn't up to scratch?

I recently took my children to a school holiday show at a well-respected and professional Melbourne arts venue. Yet, from the moment we got to the front door my experience as a visitor was lukewarm at best. 

It's been a while since I've been to see a show and consciously noticed what was going on in the foyer. I felt compelled to write about it on the blog because it really got me thinking about how what you experience in the foyer can impact on your perception and enjoyment of a venue, just as much as the show you see.

Here's some things I noticed:

1. Pram parking is a great service to offer when performances attract families with young children. But, if your automatic doors are broken and you expect people to push open the heavy glass alternative, provide a staff member to assist (or prop the door open). Watching people struggling with heavy doors, prams and small children while Front of House (FOH) Staff stand around chatting to each other makes me question the training and motivation of staff.

2. Outsourcing catering outlets is common amongst arts venues, but if only one person is rostered on and needs to leave their post where they are serving food and drinks, then someone else needs to step in and cover. FOH staff telling audience members they can't purchase a drink or a chocolate bar until the barman returns is ridiculous. Get provisions in your catering contract and/or FOH job descriptions that allow short term coverage by FOH to help out during staff breaks. Or, even better, just use goodwill and make it happen informally!

3. FOH staff huddling together and chatting and/or looking bored is always off putting. Give them something to do – such as gaining informal feedback from audience members (have you been before etc.), offering a copy of the brand new season brochure or standing outside the main doors welcoming people (see point 1 above!).

The worst thing about these sorts of experiences is that, in this case, the FOH supervisor was around, also looking at a loose end, and not addressing any of these issues.

As for the show? Well, it wasn't really as described in the marketing materials, which just added to my mild annoyance. But the real litmus test – did the kids like the show? They just shrugged. Which is how I felt too!